Sky Ball
by SmallShadowyBirds
Summary: "Her mom's nobility and her dad has their own police squad. They're super rich!" Rumors made Aozora Kotori just impossible to confront. However, just like how 'words' are not synonymous with 'truths', 'rumors' are not synonymous with 'reality'. A story where misunderstandings and misjudgments bring two opposites together. Nishinoya x OC
1. Hello

**Sky Ball**

**I. Hello**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu in any way, shape or form. I do not own any characterssettings... you get the point.**

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><p>I felt like dissolving into my shoes. If it was possible, I would have. While I had almost been excited for high school, after forcing myself to realize the facts, high school was always stressful. You always had to watch what you were doing, making sure not to tick anyone off. Not only that, but food was expensive. Classrooms were hot. People were pushy. Teachers had no mercy. What was there to like?<p>

No matter what, middle school was easier. I didn't have any friends, but I wasn't bullied either. It was more like I was just... there.

I was walking to school in the morning. Though I was walking with the soles of my shoes scraping against the ground, there was no sound of footsteps.

I continued my silent stroll when I came across a group of girls chatting. Honestly, there's nothing worse than that kind of group who screws up the entire sidewalk system by refusing to disband. There were three girls walking side by side, taking up the entire width of the sidewalk. They didn't notice I was right behind them, as no sound of footsteps could be heard, and, without fail, they didn't 'shrink' to make room for anyone to pass. Was this a 'chicken' kind of thing? 'First person to move loses!'? They should have disbanded.

"Oh my _gosh, right?_ She _totally_ deserves better," one of the girls commented to another in her group.

Even my sacrifice of waiting for them was in vain. They were talking about something irrelevant. It seemed like rumors were already starting.

The natural thing to do in this case was to say 'excuse me'. After all, I wasn't blessed with a voice for no reason.

When I thought of that scenario, however, two likely situations appeared in my mind:

One, where they apologized for taking up the sidewalk space and let me through.

The second, they would roll their eyes and ask, 'What's with her?'

Either way, there was a positive and negative to each situation. As to not disturb them, I chose neither of the choices and continued walking behind them, even at the tortoise-pace they had been going at.

At this rate, I would really be late for school.

"Hey, who're you?" One of the girls finally noticed me, and turned to address me. She began scanning my outer image. I became really self-conscious of this fact.

"My name is Aozora Kotori." In my ears, I sounded calm enough.

"Oh." She replied flatly. If she had just said, 'are you trying to get through? Sorry!' This whole situation would have been over.

"You know, she's not ugly, but she's so not hot, either. Pretty flat, actually," the second girl whispered to the third. I was a little peeved that they were remarking on my bust, but I didn't say anything.

"You know, I think I've heard the name 'Aozora' somewhere around here before... I think she's a first-year?" The first girl claimed.

The three girls began to exchange a series of facial expressions to try and remember where the first had heard my surname.

The third gave a sudden look of disbelief. "No way."

"What? What is it?" The second asked.

"Aozora Kotori! Her family's _totally_ rich. Her mom's from an aristocratic family. Her dad's even in charge of a police squad, I heard, and they're really overprotective, from what I hear."

Why.

Those were all just misunderstandings that had somehow sprouted. My family wasn't aristocratic, but we were more of an upper-middle class house. We made more money than average. This was almost a given, since my mom was a financial adviser and my dad was a surgeon. They were both well-paying jobs. As for the police squad rumor, it was because of the time when some kids were trying to egg our house during Halloween and my dad's tongue slipped and said he'd call 'our police' instead of 'the police'.

"Um..."

As I was about to correct her, I was rudely interrupted by the first. "Oh, yeah, I knew I heard that name before! Are you really Aozora Kotori?"

"Um, yes, but—" I made another attempt to clear up the situation.

"_Obviously_ it's her. Did you even need to ask? She already said so at the start!" The second one rolled her eyes. "It's nice to meet you! You're small, but really cute!"

Huh. That was kind of ironic, in a way, as she was making fun of my barely-B size earlier. Furthermore, I wasn't that short. Each year, I was the smallest possible height for average height each year. This meant that since the height average for my age group was 150cm to 170cm, I was 150cm. So I'm technically average height. Either way, their opinions changed of me quickly with the misconceptions they'd made up.

I looked at my watch and realized I was going to be late. It seemed that a conversation took too much of my time. I guess it was finally time to interrupt them.

"Can I get past you guys? I'm going to be late." I phrased it calmly, but it sounded almost rude in my ears. I internally scolded myself, and figured I'd apologize. _Should I start off with 'sorry' or 'I meant...'?_

"Oh, yeah. See you, Aozora." They made way for me and began to gossip in their small clique again. I didn't want to interrupt them, so I just continued on my way.

I was mostly used to this kind of behavior.

When I said at the beginning that I 'didn't have any friends', I guess that technically wasn't true. I had friends, but they were just like that—the kind of 'friend' who would notice me when I was walking near them (which was a feat in itself) talk to me for a bit, and then leave. So it wasn't that bad of a life, since being 'hard to confront' also meant you wouldn't get bullied. So things could've been worse.

Didn't mean I was happy with it.

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><p>At the end of the day, I shuffled out with the rest of the class. It was the same as yesterday, the day before that... the same as everyday. Like usual, the gaze of people passed over me.<p>

Most people think that having rumors that aren't negative about you make you popular, but my entire existence seemed to prove this wrong.

I was leaving the classroom when I heard the guy beside me say, "The work today was really hard! I've got tons of history homework..."

To double check, I looked at my stack of homework to find my own history workload. It soon occurred to me that it wasn't there. I could've sworn I put it in my folder, though...

I hoped this wouldn't turn into something that happened frequently as I headed back to the classroom. As I was about to turn right into the room, I was met by a familiar face.

His eyes widened for a second, but instead of bumping into him like I would have, he backed to the side quickly. "Oh, sorry."

Even if he was short, that didn't dictate his fast reflexes.

"No, it's my fault. Sorry, Nishitani-kun." I apologized to him.

He stared at me for a few seconds, but then looked confused. "Nishitani...? Ahh! No, it's Nishinoya."

Eh? But... eh...? The kanji in his name reads Nishitani*! I hadn't talked to him, but I've read his name on a lot of occasions. Still, I didn't bother to correct him. After all, he knew his name better than I did.

"O-Oh, I'm really sorry." I bowed to him slightly as a form of apology before heading into the classroom.

The only person in there was Tanaka Ryuunosuke, who quickly walked up to his friend. "Oi, oi, oi. That girl you just ran into. Don't you know her?"

Nishinoya looked at me, clearly not knowing anything about me. "Uh, Aozora... something-or-other?"

Tanaka shook his head. "Aozora Kotori! Her mom's nobility and her dad has their own police squad. They're super rich and protective."

"Oh, really," Nishinoya replied casually, but sounded as though he genuinely didn't care—or that was my own misconception. He looked at me for a few seconds.

"Well, we better get going. Daichi isn't gonna wait forever, you know," Tanaka said.

"Oh! Yeah, right." He turned his gaze away from me and they started heading out to wherever 'Daichi' was. Wasn't that the name of a third-year? Weren't they on a sports team?

I looked in my desk for the history project I had apparently forgotten, which was rare for me, but I couldn't find it in my desk, either. I looked back at the pile in my arms, and found it stuffed in-between my agenda, and not in my history folder.

I sighed at my stupidity, and walked out of the classroom.

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><p>When I walked into class 1-2 the next morning, I was greeted with, "Morning, Aozora."<p>

I looked at Nishinoya in amazement. Some people gave him a stare, while others paid no attention or didn't hear. He looked unaffected, though—still remaining with a small grin at me.

I looked at him for a few moments, just to process the fact that I had received a friendly greeting. It wasn't that rare, but the difference was that I didn't even go near him, nor did he ever say hello to me until that point.

"Good... morning...?" I probably sounded very confused. He turned his attention away from me and continued to talk to one of his friends before homeroom started.

But he knew. He knew about the rumors, and unlike everyone else, still decided to talk to me.

That day, the only thing on my mind was that 'Morning, Aozora'.

For the next few weeks, the same routine happened in the classroom—when I entered, he would go out of his way to say 'hello' or 'good morning', and I would always reply likewise, with a neutral expression.

When I went home one day, I did my normal routine: worked on homework while letting the TV play in the background.

"Kotori, did something happen today?" My dad asked while preparing dinner.

I stopped doing my homework and looked at him. "Eh...? What do you mean by that?"

My dad shrugged. "Well, you've been smiling a lot more often lately."

I blinked a couple of times. I suddenly became conscious to the fact that I was smiling. But why was I smiling...?

Ah, it must have been Nishinoya. Since I never had many friends, the fact that he, alone, said 'hello' to me every morning must have made me really happy.

"So I was wondering if anything happened..." my dad continued.

"No, it's not really... anything special." It wasn't a lie.

My father eyed me carefully. "So it's not a boy or anything."

"Well, it's a boy, but I don't like him. Ah, wait, no, I like him, but not in that way... if you know what I'm saying... well, we're more like acquaintances." I hadn't even tried lying my way out of it.

"Okay, but you shouldn't be interested in guys. You need to prioritize your studies so you can get a future." My father seemed strikingly serious.

_I said I understood. Why is he still telling me that?_ "I know. Of course."

Then again, he said it as if a guy would actually like me. That was a joke.

"Well, even if you do like a guy, he might just be taking advantage of you."

Taking advantage of me...?

At first, I didn't understand. Why would someone take advantage of someone like me?

The rumors.

It was the only thing that really made sense. I mean, why would he only start it after learning the rumors about me, when all year I'd been in the same class as him? If that was the case, then 'good morning' would have had no special purpose. Nishinoya would have been the same as everyone else. It wasn't genuine at all.

I decided that I shouldn't encourage his behavior, especially considering the rumors weren't true. If I did, I would have wasted his time, and caused trouble for both him and myself.

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><p><strong>this story takes place during nishinoya's first year. In other words, kageyama and hinata don't come in until next <em>year.<em> It's not too far off, though. since we know nothing/very little about what happened last year, i just put him in Class 1-2 since it's mentioned that class 1-4 and 1-5 are college prep classes, so he wouldn't be there.**

***西谷: i read this as "nishitani" when i was reading the raws, and found that it was really easy to mix up, since it can be pronounced 'nishi' and 'noya'. nishinoya, i assumed would be 西之谷. i was wrong.**

**anyway HAHA! it's volleyball season at our school and to get myself pumped I decided to watch haikyuu. it filled my intentions. and more.**

**so i fell in love with haikyuu!. **

**i hope you guys enjoy this story, and i hope i don't fall into a haikyuu hiatus.**

**favourite, follow, review, whatever you feel like doing. **

**#ssb**


	2. Friendship

**Sky Ball**

**II. Friendship**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu in any way, shape, or form. I do not own any characterssettings... you get the point.**

**Thanks to: _Held Together With Tape, NoLiFe97, Guest, Gallifreyan Annihilator _and_ Vamps2Bats f_or reviewing/following/favouriting/adding to whatever list! Means a lot, believe it or not! **

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><p>To say the least, my week wasn't going smoothly. The catalyst for this was my father's words, which I had been fixated on ever since he proposed the idea. <em>"Even if you do like a guy, he might just be taking advantage of you."<em>

It was true. It was absolutely plausible. When I used this newly-discovered fact to answer some questions, a lot made sense. Any contradictions I could come up with could probably be opposed with it being a misunderstanding on my part.

Q1. Why would he start now?

A1. When he almost bumped into me, he didn't even know my first name. Then, when Tanaka-kun told him the rumors, he suddenly started being nice to me.

Q2. Why would he care?

A2. After going under the assumption that I was a noble, if he became my friend, he could get in on the deal... or something like that.

It sounded very arrogant of me, even in my _own_ mind. Logically, however, it made sense. What other reason could he possibly have? He could have been a wolf in sheep's clothing, and if I went along and enforced his behaviour, he would just be disappointed in the future. To prevent that from happening, I did everything I could to avoid him.

"Hey, Aozora." He said it casually to me, as it had become a daily occurrence. I've seen him much more hot-blooded (in gym class, during any sort of playful game, he was _insane. _Don't even get me started with him _and_ Tanaka), but it was doubtful he'd act that way to someone he barely knew.

Almost on instinct, I muttered out a "Good mor—" before stopping myself. I turned away from him, walking straight to my seat.

So, every morning, he would bid me a good morning, and I wouldn't answer. I _did_ realize that I seemed like a total _jerk_ for doing this, but I had already made up my decision. This was my new routine—or rather, you could say, my old routine.

However, he did something else that exceeded my expectations.

After changing into my school shoes from sneakers, I turned to head to class, where I was met by a guy with ridiculously fashioned hair.

This startled me somewhat, as I had to stop my already-in-motion feet to keep from bumping into him, causing my feet to stutter.

At first, he seemed to have a serious expression, but it widened into a smile. "Hey, Aozora."

I was sure he would've given up by now, unless he was too dense to notice that I was purposefully avoiding him. I turned my eyes away and walked past him.

Before I could call coast clear, he called my name again. "Aozora, wait."

I bit my lip. If this guy was going to be so persistent, then I only had one choice. "What do you want?"

His expression was quickly replaced with confusion. "Huh?"

"Listen, do you want money? I... I can give you some. Just... why won't you leave me alone?" It sounded awkward and rude to me. It probably was.

Nishinoya looked at me, an eyebrow raised, mouth slightly agape. He looked very, very confused. "What? When did I say anything about money?"

It didn't make sense. "You haven't done that with any other girl. What makes _me_ so special?"

Nishinoya's response was instantaneous, as if it required no thought. He gave a proud look and pointed a finger directly at me. "It's 'cause you're shorter than me!"

Teal-green eyes stared at him in astonishment for a moment, processing what he had just said. Even though there was no sense of manipulation in his voice, I was convinced of what he just said—both because I couldn't find any flaws in it logically, and that it was (for both ends) sadly true.

Then... in that case... "Well..."

"Hm?"

I inhaled deeply. "It's... a misunderstanding!" Would a 'sorry' even cut it? I jumped to some of the absolute _worst_ conclusions about it. I felt like I was making it sound like a misunderstanding, but I was probably just the one being a jerk about it. "I thought you were trying to take advantage of me. After you figured out the rumors, you suddenly became nicer to me. It wasn't the first time someone tried to do that, either, so please don't think that I'm treating you differently. I'm sorry if I disappointed you—I didn't mean to cause trouble..."

It was my first time clearing up a misunderstanding.

He looked at me with an expression that, if I had to express it in words, would be a flat out '_What._' Such an expression that looked like he had just heard something so head-tiltingly bizarre, so incredibly stupid, that even he, one of the most impulsive people I knew, couldn't voice a response.

"Alright, Aozora." He snapped out of his confusion quickly enough and looked at me with a determined look, and, with his chest puffed out as if it showed some sort of superiority, pointed to himself using his thumb. "I'll prove that I actually want to be your friend!"

I was dyed pure white in shock. "What?"

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><p>Why I thought my plan would work against Nishinoya, I'll never know. He was just so unpredictable, spontaneous, and <em>reckless<em> that there was no way I would ever have created a strategy that would be one hundred percent effective against him.

After listening to a few conversations silently, I learned a bunch of things. It turns out that stalking people is the best way to find out gossip, apparently.

I made a mental list of the things I found out about Nishinoya, based off of what others gossiped about him.

1. He's book-dumb.

2. He plays volleyball. He's really good. For that matter, Tanaka was also on the team.

3. Tanaka and him are tight.

4. He likes a second year named Shimizu Kiyoko. She's a beauty, according to gossip. And she received much higher praise than he did when it came to gossip.

5. He was friends with Aozora Kotori.

The fifth had only been created recently. The predecessor to this happened the day after his confrontation.

He had said he'd 'prove that he actually wanted to be my friend', but I was very skeptical on how he'd manage that.

When I walked into class, Nishinoya immediately walked up to me with Tanaka.

Nishinoya gave his confident smile. "Hey, Aozora."

I looked up at Tanaka. Why was everyone so tall? Tanaka looked at me with this glint of disdain and shock in his eyes that distantly reminded me of the yakuza*. Was he part of that kind of thing? It made Nishinoya's hair make a bit more sense.

According to what people say, both Tanaka and Nishinoya had a not-so-unrequited love for Shimizu-senpai, a second-year manager of the volleyball club, and Nishinoya had been completely fine with talking to me. I hadn't expected Tanaka to be uncharacteristically silent around me. Whether it was due to the fact that he didn't like talking to girls and/or the rumors that haunted my everyday life, I wasn't too sure.

"Good morning Nishinoya-kun, Tanaka-kun." My response was a bit late.

There was a bit of a silence, and Nishinoya elbowed Tanaka. "C'mon, Ryuu."

"Morning..." it sounded forced and staggering. How rude.

Nishinoya sighed, knowing that was probably the best he'd get from Tanaka at the moment. "I'll talk to you after school. See ya!" He said it in his usual enthusiastic, bubbly way.

"See? See? I told you she was nice!" Nishinoya acted as though he had just won a bet.

"Oi, oi, what are you thinking?" Tanaka looked at him, and I couldn't tell if it was supposed to scare Nishinoya or show how scared _he_ was.

"I dunno. I made her a promise, and I'll definitely make it." Nishinoya gave his usual carefree but confident grin.

Then, I stopped and thought, _he might not be as uncool as I thought_. Though what he said was embarrassing, but at the same time, I didn't really... never mind. I got rid of that follow-up on my thought quickly._  
><em>

In my stunned silence, I had missed something huge. "A-After school...?!"

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><p>"I don't understand...! Don't you have volleyball today? Seriously, you must have <em>something<em> better to do than hang out with me! I mean, things at my house aren't _that_ easygoing! I'd have to at least _tell_ my parents that I'm going out. Ah, and then they might ask with who, and where! And you seem pretty loose about this kind of thing, so you probably don't have anything planned out either. I don't want to trouble you or anything by having you _wait_ for me while I ask, so really, it's fine! I understand that you want to be a _friend_, but..." I rambled on and on to him after school, trying to persuade him to better spend his time on something else.

Nishinoya was listening, but at the same time, he wasn't. This was most evident through his blank stare at me that told me he had lost me after my third sentence.

"Uh... well, the basketball club has the gym booked out today, and I really don't have anything better to do, since Ryuu has to go help sis with something." Nishinoya replied to everything he had managed to comprehend.

"Like I said, I'd need to tell my parents, and you really don't need to wait for me..."

"Why don't you just call them?"

I stared at him in defeat.

Within twenty minutes, after calling my parents, we found ourselves somewhere downtown. I looked around, constantly spinning my head like a five-year old. On the other hand, Nishinoya looked right at home.

I had only seen the city and doing things with friends in books. I imagined we'd do things like karaoke, or go to an udon shop.

"I'm going to take a wager and say you didn't have anything planned, so what are we going to do now?" I looked at him. While my expression remained nonchalant, my eyes were sparkling.

He looked around. "After the bus ride, how much money do you have left?"

I opened my bag to get my wallet.

And then—

"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"

My sudden outburst seemed to even shock Nishinoya, understandably. I began inhaling and exhaling so quickly that I wouldn't be surprised if my face turned blue due to hyperventilation.

"A-Aozora?! What happened?!" Nishinoya seemed genuinely concerned.

"I... I can't find my wallet." I managed to breathe out those words.

"Eh?! You mean it got stolen?!"

"N-No... I didn't think I needed it since I wasn't going to buy food or a drink since I brought my own lunch today. I have a bit of pocket change, b-butIleftmywalletathome,and" My words became slurred as my speech went faster.

Nishinoya stared at me with his blank expression (which I had gotten used to). He adapted to the situation like usual after those few seconds of comprehension. "Whoa, that was a surprise..."

"What do you mean?! It's a big deal!" I was a bit frustrated at how lightly he was taking my mistake. Doesn't he know that this inconvenienced him greatly? Now this limited the choices of where we could go, and even if we did, he would have to pay for it. Even _thinking_ it seemed selfish and a horrible inconvenience. He even went so far as to invite me.

He thought for a second. "You said you had a bit of pocket change. How much?"

I counted the approximate in my head. "U-Um... 500 yen...?"

"500 yen? That's way more than enough, so don't worry!" He gave a reassuring smile. "Wow, that was really shocking. Up until now, I took you for an emotionless girl kind of character."

Due to the jump in topics and my panic, I wasn't sure how to answer. Hell, I was hardly processing information. I really, really, didn't understand how he could be so relaxed about... everything!

Ignoring my continued panic, he gave a grin and pulled me away. When I recollected myself properly, we were walking near a park, and there was a Gari-Gari kun popsicle in my hand.

"These popsicles are the _best!_" To say the least, Nishinoya seemed very... passionate about the particular brand. "_And _they're only 60 yen!"

"_Profiterole_..." I spoke the name of the flavour I had gotten in English. It was especially hard to pronounce. I vaguely remembered him asking something about my favourite flavour at the convenience store.

"Pu-Purohuiteroru...?" He seemed confused. Then again, I _had_ been speaking English. If you were to change it to kanji, that would roughly translate to something ridiculous like 'purofu, have terror!'

"Ah, sorry. 'Shuukuri-mu'. The flavour of my popsicle. Also, about popsicles... is that really the kind of thing to be getting in _February__?_" I gave him a questionable sideways glance.

"Gari-Gari kun is delicious _all_ times of the year!" He said that proudly.

"It's like, _one degree _outside."

He either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me, because he switched topics. "Anyway, it's kind of funny how you, the 'rich girl', forgot her wallet..." Seeing my dejected, lifeless state at the mention of my shame, he shook his hands vigorously. "No, no! I didn't mean it like that. Sorry, Aozora."

I returned to normal quickly enough. Suddenly, I received a sudden stroke of realization. "Actually, Nishinoya-kun, there's something I need to tell you..."

He looked back at me, since I had stopped moving. He seemed nonchalant about it at first, but then was a little confused. "H-Hey, what's up? You're kinda making me nervous."

Was he really nervous? I found it hard to believe with such a lax guy has him. "Well, the rumors... aren't true. Or, well, um, they are, but they're too much of a stretch. Y-You know, the ones concerning me being noble or sheltered. I'm sorry for lying to you, deceiving you, or letting down your expectations of me..." I bowed in apology.

I had planned to tell him the truth later. After all, I looked at the two scenarios.

One was where he was actually planning to become my friend. If so, then after finding out I lied, he may not have wanted to become friends with a liar. So, if he didn't want to become friends now, it wouldn't be too late.

The second was if he was still going to become my friend because of my money. If so, then I probably wasted his time.

Regardless of the circumstances, as shown at the positive and negatives of the situation, the best option out of 'tell him later' and 'tell him now' would be the latter.

"Oh, is that all?" He gave his imperturbable optimistic smile. "I told you before, and I'll do it as many times as you need me to. I don't care about that."

He looked at me confidently. I didn't know how to look back at him, so I averted my eyes. Through my peripheral vision, I saw him begin to walk.

_Wasn't that really cool...?_ "...I guess." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." My voice came out a bit shriller than usual and I hurried up to him.

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><p>It was almost new year, which signaled the end of our first year. I felt a bit perturbed that nothing had changed since Nishinoya became my friend.<p>

While I was usually uncomfortable with change, I found that I hadn't minded the sudden changes with Nishinoya, leading me to believe if the change was positive, I wouldn't mind. I wanted that kind of positive change again, but I found it unfair if I had to leave Nishinoya to initiate every change in my daily life.

I didn't think this would be a repeated action, though.

Immediately, when I walked into the classroom, I saw Nishinoya leaning backwards dangerously in his chair to talk to Tanaka, who sat two seats behind him. When he saw me come in, he gave a grin.

I walked over to him before he could start his routine. I took a deep breath. Yeah, it'd be okay. I practiced this enough times.

"_Gu... Guten Morgen!_" I felt like that came out louder than it was meant to.

"Gu... te... mo... ru... ke...?" Nishinoya tilted his head, trying to re-say it in the Japanese alphabet. He looked confused. Looking over to see if Tanaka got it, his expression was identical to Nishinoya's.

I would have had the exact same panic attack I had a few weeks ago when I forgot my wallet if I weren't in front of such a big crowd of my peers. Not that I hadn't _already_ made a fool of myself.

"It's German. It means good morning." I explained.

Like always, he gave me that clueless stare. "G-Good morning to you too?"

I had a feeling I was attracting attention, so I went to my desk.

I could already hear the neighboring groups whispering quietly among themselves. "Did you hear that? It's German. She's _definitely_ been overseas. I _told_ you so!"

I only knew how to count to three and say hello and good morning in German. Even that was just because of manga. So no.

Me and Nishinoya didn't really have much interaction that morning—probably due to my slip-up in the morning (but seriously, _German_. What the _hell_.) So the next time we talked was when I attempted to confront him after school.

Due to staying silent the rest of the day, I found out more news and gossip, and thus had more to talk about him. By "news and gossip", for your information, I meant relevant things. Because I wasn't going to discuss shit about so-and-so. Out loud, at least.

"Nishinoya-kun." I called out to him for the first time. Being more forward felt nice. If I got too confrontational, he might have found it annoying, yet if I stayed too sheepish, he might have thought I disliked him. So if it was just for today, I decided to be more confrontational. Or at least, the best I could.

He turned my way. I made a mental note not to trip over my words or speak in unbeknownst languages when I was speaking. Because _apparently, _it was _that hard_ for me to do. "You have a game today, right?"

"Yeah!" He looked very passionate about volleyball... to say the _least_.

"Against who?"

"Dateko High School." What an odd name. Datekougyou Koukou... I felt like it was some kind of test for a tongue twister.

"Well then, um, good luck." I smiled at him.

I became kind of concerned when he just continued staring at me. When my expression changed into confusion, it seemed to snap him back into reality.

"Wh... at?" I asked a bit hesitantly.

"You should smile more!"

"W-What?" I did realize my face was heating up, but not because I liked him. I mean, I did, but not in that way. It wasn't me being tsundere** about it, just reality. Just because he was nice to me didn't mean I liked him. The only reason that was happening was because I wasn't used to it. Plus, it _was_ pretty bold of him.

I didn't want a misunderstanding that would affect him concerning who or what I liked (which was quite common for anyone in _any_ class), but I didn't know what to do so I just stared at him.

I wish I was able to say that kind of thing without misunderstandings, too.

"Well..." Since I didn't know what to say, I changed the topic. "I wish I could watch your game, but it's an away game and I didn't ask beforehand."

"Why not just call like you did before?"

"I didn't have a need for my phone today, so I didn't bring it. I only learned about your game today. You should have told me..." I turned abruptly. "Not that it's your fault or anything! I mean, I should have brought my phone just in case. Anyway, good luck, Nishinoya-kun."

"Yeah, see you!" He gave me a grin and ran off to volleyball. Did that mean I took up too much of his time? Still, I found that it was kind of nice having him around. It wasn't like he caused any trouble.

Hoo boy.

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><p><strong>*yakuza - pretty much the japanese mafia. summarized, on wikipedia:<strong>

**Yakuza are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police, call them "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "chivalrous organizations". **

****tsundere - a character who acts rude (sometimes violent) to their crush and aloof to everyone, but is sweet and loves their crush on the inside. **

**oh wow i did not expect this to take an entire, what, two weeks? dang.**

**it was not edited when i first posted this and so i'm really snovorry for the inconvenience but i took it down, only for it to be re-uploaded, like, a day after. i'msosorry.**

**but the reason for that is because i got the time of the dateko match wrong. it says that 'new school year is coming up' meaning it can't be in march.**

**edit2: URGH. okay, this got really confusing, since one source i watched haikyuu on said 'new year' but the other said 'new school year', meaning that new year meant new school year. yes it can be in march.**

**i don't really have a lot for this a/n, so~!:**

**i'm gonna make a Q&A for this story! you ask, i'll answer.**

**see you next edition!**

**#SSB**


	3. Argument

**Sky Ball**

**III. Argument**

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><p><strong>Shout-outThank you to Bergliot, RosemaryThief, akagame hime chan, Shadow of Many and Blubber (Guest) for reviewing/following/favouriting this story!**

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><p>Considering Nishinoya would always be in an excessively good mood after a game, I walked in the classroom expecting to get jumped by him.<p>

But I was wrong. When I came into class, I knew something was wrong immediately.

Of course, I wasn't _that_ sensitive. I wasn't worried because he hadn't said 'good morning' like he usually would, though I admit that was _part_ of the cause. The scene laid out before me had our usual classroom, where everyone was chatting away. There was only one error.

Nishinoya was _working._

Like, on actual work. Not just trying to memorize some volleyball procedures or hand gestures that signaled for him to go somewhere or whatever. It was boring old algebra. To add to the boredom, it was _slopes._

So naturally, I knew something was wrong.

"Good morning..." I praised myself silently for not making some stupid mistake. Like German.

"Morning." He said it, but it felt different.

By 'different', I didn't mean he said some new, spectacular 'GOOD MORNING' every day. I can't really describe how it sounded. It was the same sound you'd make when saying 'drop dead'. I wasn't sure if it was intended at me or someone or something else.

I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but if _I_ was wrong and _he_ was fine, then it would look really stupid on my account. He _could_ have just been tired, or something. Volleyball _does_ tend to require a plethora of physical effort.

Plus, if he _was_ either tired or sad, then in both cases, he might not want me to talk to him. A lot of people like being left alone when they're down.

Then again, they also like having someone to talk to...

Since there was a 5:2 ratio of alone:talk in terms of chances of what I should do, I decided to play it safe and leave him alone, wondering if the team won or lost their game. If they won, that would tip the scales dramatically... but because it was ambiguous, I still didn't say anything.

Must have been a pretty damn hard game, since Tanaka looked out of it too.

* * *

><p>The mornings at school were, by far my favourite time of the day. I mean, I have math, which isn't that hard once you know the rules, and I was always greeted by a friend.<p>

Today, I felt like I was reverting to the days before I got to know Nishinoya. Yesterday, we hadn't talked at all, save for that weak 'good morning'. He still attended volleyball practice, though. Should I have talked to him about it after all?

_I hate making bad decisions. _

So, around lunch time, I saw Nishinoya leave the classroom for the first time that day. I was curious as to where he was going, but first I had to confirm something.

"... Tanaka-kun." I stood in front of his desk. I had to hurry, or else I wouldn't be able to find out where he was going.

Notably, Tanaka was in a better mood than yesterday. On a scale of 1 - 10, with 5 being his normal, I'd say he was at about a 4 or 3.5 right now.

"Ah, Aozora-san!" Tanaka straightened like I had shocked him with a taser or something. Whatever.

"Karasuno... did... you win the game, or lose the game two days ago? Against Datekougyou." I specified the details. I heard they called it 'Dateko' for short. Should I have used that instead?

"What's it matter to you?" He gave a threatening look. I would almost call it comedic, but I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. I debated whether he was actually part of the yakuza or not.

Ahh, then again, why _did_ it matter to me? 'Because I'm friends with Nishinoya-kun' didn't seem like a good enough excuse. It was none of my business, and if I was _really_ friends with him, then why didn't I just ask _him_ instead of Tanaka? Yet, here I was, disturbing him. In my self-evaluation, I almost forgot I was on a time limit.

"I don't have time for this, Tanaka-kun." I gave an unperturbed look. If he _was_ trying to be threatening, maybe it would be polite to say it didn't work? No, that would be the opposite. The best I could do would be to act unaffected.

His expression went back to normal. "We lost."

He seemed almost surprised that I hadn't reacted. Oh well, there was nothing I could do about it now.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for disturbing you." I bowed my head in respect and left the room, walking as quick as I could in the hallways, and walking normally whenever I spotted an authority figure.

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><p>I caught Nishinoya near the third years' classrooms and the Vice Principal's office. He was confronting an absurdly tall third-year (or so I assumed).<p>

I recalled my stalker database and accessed he was Azumane Asahi. I was slightly concerned, since I heard he was involved in some kind of illicit activities after school, involving drugs and girls.

"Why didn't you come to club activities yesterday?" Nishinoya looked at Azumane with a look I didn't think I'd see on Nishinoya's face.

Since Azumane was believably on the volleyball team, I hoped that the 'club' meant the 'volleyball club' and not some druggie slang term I was not aware of.

"There's a volleyball tournament right after the new school year, you know."

"Because there's nothing fun about hitting spikes that don't go through." Azumane seemed hesitant when responding. "Even if you recover the ball, it's useless if the attack doesn't connect, right? And, whenever my attacks are blocked, Suga feels responsible."

I was really worried, because Nishinoya's usual laid-back, bubbly, optimistic attitude seemed downright malicious at this point. "What other people think has nothing to do with it!"

It really irked me. Here I was, dedicating myself to the shadows as to not inconvenience anyone, and he was shouting like he was having a yodeling contest on top of Mount Fuji.

"Hey! Who's shouting out here?!" The Vice Principal leaned out his door.

"It's about whether you still want to hit spikes!" Nishinoya continued to yell. I caught a forlorn look on Azumane's face for just a moment, which didn't make sense.

Azumane began to walk away from the scene.

"Asahi-san!" Nishinoya tried to call after him.

"Don't cause a ruckus in the hallway!" The Vice Principal shouted. He put his hand on Nishinoya's shoulder to calm him down, but was unsuccessful.

"Shut up!" Nishinoya swung his arm violently backwards, practically elbowing the Vice Principal into the vase. It spinned around on it's pedestal and fell over, successfully breaking the pottery. The Vice Principal made out a shrill sound while Nishinoya continued shouting out for Asahi-san, who turned the corner and left.

"Hey, you! Tell me your name and class!" The Vice President called out. What an idiot. Didn't he see that didn't work out the first time? I could already hear the chatter forming around me about what they had just witnessed.

"Don't you want to spike and score again?!" Nishinoya was completely ignoring the Vice President's words.

Ahh, at this rate, Nishinoya would get himself in even more trouble. But what was I supposed to d—

As quickly as I thought of the solution, though there could have been many more, I used the spur-of-the-moment decision I had made.

"Nishinoya-kun!" I shouted it out loudly. Naturally, everyone was surprised. Half of them hadn't even heard me _talk,_ much less shout.

Nishinoya tore his gaze away from the corner Azumane had used as an escape and pivoted to look at me. I was really worried, because he had this frustrated look like he wanted to scream. I felt that now that I had averted his attention, I'd better say something.

"N-Not here. You're attracting attention... calm down..."

"Why should I _care?!_" Azumane and volleyball were obviously more important to him. Couldn't he see that I was doing everything I could? This, in itself, was hard.

Beyond that, his sentence irked me. None the less, I couldn't cause a scene here. I walked up to the center of the scene and bowed to the Vice Principal. "Please excuse us temporarily. Pardon me for the intrusion."

I grabbed him roughly by the hand. This would probably create a lot of misunderstandings, but at the moment, it's the only thing I could do. At first, I felt him try to violently take his hand out of mine, but I clenched tighter and began to dig my nails into him. I hoped he'd either think it was an accident or forgive me. In any case, he stopped resisting, and I pulled him outside of school.

"What the _hell,_ Aozora?!" Nishinoya yelled at me.

"Listen, you... you need to... calm down..." I tried to keep my voice leveled.

"Shut up! It's none of your business!"

"Shh! They'll still be able to hear you, at the volume you're speaking at...!"

It seemed that nothing could calm him down. "I thought I made it clear in there that I _didn't care_!"

It was _that line_ again. That _phrase_ that ticked me off _so much._

"This is between me, the volleyball, and Asahi-san! You have nothing to do with it, so quit sticking your nose in other people's businesses!"

What? He didn't even acknowledge _anything_ I was saying, did he? He didn't realize _any_ of the trouble he was causing for others, _did he?_ He didn't realize _any _of the consequences that came along with his actions.

He was only focused on his tunnel-vision of himself, Azumane and volleyball.

"C... Calm down, Nishi—"

"Why should I?! He _deserves it!_"

And then I snapped.

* * *

><p>It didn't take me long to realize what I'd just done. To be specific, it took about five seconds—just as I left Nishinoya's field of view.<p>

I was the world's biggest jerk. Or at least, I felt like such.

I had just shouted at the only guy who had bothered to befriend me. At the time, when I was angry, I had thought of it as 'having him see the reality of the situation.' To be perfectly honest, that was exactly what I did. But I didn't have to put it in _that way_.

One of the few times I decide to be more confrontational, and I do it to piss off a friend. Great. Things are looking great.

_"Normally, people have at least a speck of common sense to not fight in front of the Vice Principal's office."_

_"Sure, you don't care. That's great. You should be awarded a medal for how much you don't care. Guess what? Others do."_

_"Thinking is required, Nishinoya."_

To others, it was probably really hard to imagine me saying that kind of thing. Well, aside from me and Nishinoya, since he had been the one to experience my rude manner firsthand.

I was being realistic, but I didn't need to say it in that manner. I could have just said it normally, _without_ all the offhand comments.

Everyone had bad days, and I just had to fight with him on his. I could possibly have been the worst friend ever. Most people had _problem solving _skills, but apparently, I didn't. This was probably the reason why I didn't have friends. I was such a bad one. This was probably the reason why my old friend left me, this was probably the reason why Nishinoya was most likely never going to talk to me again.

When I thought of that, I suddenly felt a lot worse than I did before. He wasn't going to talk to me anymore. He'd probably hate me forever. I mean, up until now, I was obedient, quiet, heck, downright sheepish. Today though, I was a back-talking little scamp.

Then I felt bad for feeling bad. I had gone so much as to say such rude things right to his face, and now I felt bad about it? In that case, I shouldn't have done it in the first place. I _deserved_ to feel bad. It shouldn't go, 'I'll just rudely critique his anger and then feel bad about it and I'll be forgiven.' That wouldn't be fair.

After feeling bad about feeling bad about feeling bad about feeling bad, I just, in summary, felt like shit. I wanted to say sorry, but there wouldn't really be apologies to cut it.

When he didn't come back to the classroom, it only made me feel even worse.

_I'm sorry, Nishinoya-kun..._ I knew those words wouldn't come to light, even though they were so easy to say.

I stared at his seat quite a lot that day.

* * *

><p>During spring break, I'd been given a lot of time alone to think about everything I could do for Nishinoya. I thought about it so much that between thinking, studying, and setting up supplies for next year, I forgot I was going to be a second-year, and most likely in a different class than him. It was easy to say that I had a bit of a tunnel-vision because of my mistake.<p>

I did not want to repeat _that_ mistake I once did.

This time, it wasn't as bad. I could still _fix _it.

I could still come into contact with Nishinoya through his club, somehow. Then, maybe I could apologize there.

By the end of break, I came up with a resolution. That was how I ended up in front of a door with a sign labelled 3-2 on the _very first day of my second year,_ waiting for a certain third year to come out. Most people passed by me—whether it was because they didn't care or genuinely didn't notice me, I didn't really care.

"Um, Shimizu Kiyoko-senpai, am I correct...?" I asked a certain girl.

The rumors weren't kidding when they said that she was a beauty. She was. Her black hair was straighter than mine, her bespectacled, blue-eyed gaze, and even the mole at the bottom of her lips radiated the 'Ice Queen' kind of look. Heck, even her name represented it somewhat: Clear water, clear child.

She turned to me like it was nothing. "Yes."

"I've heard you were the manager of the club, and so I have a request. I'm sorry if this comes off a bit presumptuous, but if I could, may I... watch the boys' volleyball practice?"

Shimizu seemed to eye me up and down. Seriously, what was this? Was she trying to 'see if I was worthy material' to be watching the boys' practice? It was just practice, right? What was the quota to be 'worthy material?' I just didn't understand why it was taking so long.

"I don't see a problem with it."

It seemed too easy. Despite all my thought, her response was very straightforward. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

... Okay. That happened.

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><p>I knew nothing about sports. I mean, I participated in track and field back in elementary school, but we all know that in elementary sports, your only job is to 'run and hit the ball'. It wasn't like our school was renowned in sports, either.<p>

So all those words that Nishinoya used with Tanaka like 'ribero', 'seta', 'u~ingusupaika' were absolutely foreign to me. It didn't help that Nishinoya and Tanaka had the worst Japanglish I had heard in a while. It was absolutely _incomprehensible_. When I tried to make sense of it, 'ribero' sounded like 'libre', which meant free, and I had no _clue_ what that 'winged spy car' was. Or was it 'wing spiker'? Either way, it didn't make a whole lot of sense.

I followed behind Shimizu to the gym, where we were immediately met with a tall, black-haired guy and short orange-haired guy arguing in front of the doors.

"No matter how obnoxious you are, I'll do my best to keep from seeing you!" The short one said. Or maybe it would be hypocritical to call him short, since I had probably grown, at maximum, half a centimeter during break.

"That's my line, you idiot!" The black-haired guy yelled.

I expected the volleyball club to be more mature. Then again, judging from Nishinoya and Tanaka...

Anyway, I didn't know whether to rise up and take the situation. They were standing directly in front of the gym doors, and it wasn't like I could take the fire exit inside. Ah, but it would be rude to interrupt an argument. After all, the last time I did anything even remotely like that...

"Um," Shimizu spoke up, "Can you let me through?"

They stared at her for a second before moving to the sides, still retaining their gazes on her as she walked inside, bag in hand.

I was about to go in when Shimizu was stopped by Tanaka. "Kiyoko-san, good to see you. I'll get that for you!" He attempted to grab her bag.

"It's fine. I'll do it myself." She replied without any fluctuations in her voice.

"Kiyoko-san, you're as beautiful as ever today!" She didn't give a response and just walked away. Tanaka stared at her for a bit, before twisting and holding himself as though he had just gotten the chills. "Ooh, it turns me on when she ignores me!"

"Me as well." I went after her, the two guys outside shifting their attention from her only when I spoke up. I bowed. "Pardon me for interrupting."

I walked in, unnoticed, going behind Tanaka as to not avert his attention from Shimizu. A third year gave a forced smile to the two boys outside as he shut the door on them.

"Excu—"

"C'mon, Tanaka, let's get back to practice..." A grey/beige haired third year said, trying to calm my former classmate down. Successful, Tanaka sighed and went back onto the court.

I didn't really want to speak up again, since I didn't know any of the third years and saying 'I'm here to watch you guys play' was creepy, and fairly dubious in context.

"Um..."

"Hi, uh, who are you?" I whipped my head around to see a third year staring down at me, though with a friendly smile. I was finally noticed, huh...

"Sorry to intrude or distract you," I said right away, "I'm Aozora Kotori, class 2-5."

He looked a bit surprised after hearing my name, but then reverted to his original smile. I'm glad that he didn't react that much. "Ah, no, it's fine. Why are you here?"

I did my best to refrain from saying 'uh'. I paused for a bit. "Well, Shimizu-senpai said that it was fine if I watched practice. I'm very interested in volleyball, actually."

I had deduced that no matter how I put it, it would sound creepy, and so I just said it straightforwardly and hoped there wouldn't be any misunderstandings. Not that I believed he was the kind of guy to think that way, or anything.

"Oh, well, yeah. I don't see any real problem with it either, so it's fine." He said.

"Thank you. Do you want me to sit down here, or in the stands?"

"Either's fine with me. It's not like we have a whole lot of visitors, anyway." He took a glance at the empty stands.

"I'll sit up in the stands for now, since it's a special day and I don't want to disturb you during your recruiting week."

He smiled. "I don't really think it's all that special, but whatever you want. Thanks for coming."

He turned to return to practice. "Ah, wait..." I called out, "What's your name?"

"Sawamura Daichi, Class 3-4."

I made a mental note of that name in my head as I headed up to the stands.

I knew nothing about volleyball.

* * *

><p>Despite only beginning to figure things out, I continued going to the volleyball club to watch.<p>

I couldn't exactly say I _enjoyed_ myself, as I had no clue what was happening. From the stands, I looked over at the first-years, who had just joined the club recently. It really _did_ look like they were a team. At least, to my standards.

Hinata, the shortest member, finally spoke something that I understood. "Hey, that girl in the stands... she's been watching us for a while now. What's she doing here?"

Busted.

Even though I wasn't in trouble and it was totally fine for me to be here, it didn't ward away the feeling that I shouldn't have been spotted.

Tanaka narrowed his eyes at the stands before he gave an incredulous look. "Aozora?!"

There is no way I could have went to watch the volleyball club for a month without him noticing me. Then again, this _was_ Tanaka.

"Aozora?" Hinata tilted his head.

It seemed like the rumors hadn't reached the first-years yet, which made me grateful. However, my moment of pleasure was revoked instantly. "Yeah. Her parents are nobles and super protective, or something like that."

"Oh, she's Noya-san's friend, too." Tanaka added in casually.

"You're serious?" The second and third years that cared looked at him, eyes wide with shock.

"Who's Noya-san?" Hinata vocalized for the entire first-year population.

"No one important, right now." Sawamura said. I questioned why he said that now, but he would have had to undoubtedly explain it later, like when Nishinoya returned.

Hinata, surprisingly enough, dropped it. Maybe he wasn't interested anymore in the topic. I was glad, but at the same time, I kind of felt disappointed. "Okay. Once more!" Hinata switched his attention back to Kageyama, referring to the 'drill' they were doing.

"You're the one slacking off, stupid." Kageyama said, walking to the bin of volleyballs.

"What?!" Hinata called out, storming over to him too.

Despite how they acted, those two actually made a really good... partnership. Though I hadn't been here long, in their first practice, they were able to do a really fast _'quick'. _Then, during the Aoba Jousai match, they won their first (practice) game with the three first-year starters: the Kageyama/Hinata duo and Tsukishima.

Even though I didn't know a whole lot about volleyball (aside from what I could hear from the stands), I had to admit, I was kind of taking a sort of fondness to it.

This was until a week passed.

I had finished another grueling day in class, and, as it had become routinely, went to the gym after school. When I was passing by the fire exit of the gym, I heard the sound of a volleyball hitting someone's arms, before bouncing on the hardwood floor a couple of times.

I stood in front of the door. It grew quiet. I was going to enter through the front after I went around, but then heard Hinata's voice. "He's shorter than me."

Was he _really_ going to play the pronoun game just to leave me guessing who 'he' was?

"Hah?! Hey, what did you just say?!" I heard a very threatening voice yell. It sounded familiar.

"I-I'm sorry!" Hinata's voice called back again. "U-Um, how tall are you?"

"159cm!"

_Wait._

"Wow..." Hinata marveled.

"Wh-What?"

"It's the first time I've looked down on someone since I started High School Club Activities!" I heard Hinata give a pathetic sound. Was that a sob?

"Don't weep with joy about it! You're not looking that far down!" The other voice replied.

At this point, I shouldn't even say 'other voice', because I knew who it was from the moment he spoke, though I didn't want to admit it.

I heard the doors on the other side of the gym open up, and a shuffling of shoes.

Then I heard Tanaka.

"Oh, Noya-san!"

"Hey, Ryuu!"

"Nishinoya!" I heard Sawamura and Sugawara say in unison.

"Hey!" Nishinoya replied in his enthusiastic tone.

"Let me introduce you. This is Nishinoya, a second-year." Judging by the tone in Sawamura's voice, they were glad to have him back. Everyone was.

But I wasn't sure of exactly _what _I felt.

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><p><strong>and that concludes chapter three.<strong>

**i don't really know what to say, so i'm gonna reply to some comments to fill up more of this space. i can't really reply to just 'good job', though i DO SO MUCH appreciate them, but i just really don't know what to say to that. so i'll skip it.**

**thank you to guest!**

**Bergliot: yeah, one of my main objectives was to keep her a bit realistic, since i LOVE the fact that haikyuu is pretty realistic. also, i'm also usually against first person (believe it or not), but i wanted to try it, and what better place than fanfiction? because if i screw up, nothing that bad happens. thank you, by the way~! i like lengthy reviews. (also, on a completely off tangent if you decide to review again, why is your account called 'Bergliot'?)**

**Shadow of Many: is this the update you were looking for? oh, and nishinoya's adorable. 'nuff said.**

**thank you to blubber!**

**i'll see you guys next time, hopefully with a good chapter!**


	4. Of Colour

**Sky Ball**

**IV. Of Colour**

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><p><strong>Special thanks to: queen6404, trolleypop, le random looper, harudha558, JineteHielo, Yuki Nagato998, Peri (Guest), Guest (1), Guest (2), and Bergliot for reviewingfollowing/favouriting this author/story!**

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><p>Here. At last, he was here.<p>

While I wasn't sure of what I felt, I found it odd that despite all my previous preparations—my elaborate plan to apologize and everything—despite it being my only reason to have been attending volleyball practice everyday, even though I had no interest in _any_ sport, I wasn't overjoyed he was back. But I wasn't disappointed, either. Nor was I mad at him.

I began to overthink it. Would a simple 'I'm sorry' suffice for him? What if he was one of those prideful, stubborn guys who thought they were always right?

I heard them continue their conversation after Sawamura introduced Hinata and Kageyama to Nishinoya. I went on the tips of my toes and jumped slightly to see what was going on inside the gym.

"Hi!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Hey, you guys are the new first-years, huh?" Nishinoya grinned his usual grin, and pointed at Kageyama. "You, the tall guy doing serves. What middle school are you from?"

Even the calm-and-composed Kageyama seemed a bit taken aback by Nishinoya's personality. "Ki-Kitagawa Daiichi."

"Seriously?! That's a powerhouse school! No wonder you serve like that! We played a set against you and lost 2-1! Your serve was amazing back then, too!" Nishinoya exclaimed.

If I were to put his chatter in words, I don't think one exclamation point was _ever_ sufficient. Sawamura and Sugawara both parroted my thoughts, and muttered, "Noisy as ever..."

"What middle school are _you_ from?" Kageyama asked.

Nishinoya thrust a proud fist in the air. "Chidoriyama!"

Kageyama's eyes widened. Leave it to him to know every single volleyball champ. His interest was always piqued when it came to volleyball, despite his usually aloof attitude. "That's a powerhouse in its own right! Maybe... you came to Karasuno because you heard Coach Ukai was coming back, too?"

"Nah," Nishinoya said as solemnly as he could, "I came to Karasuno because... I like the girls' uniform." He clenched his fist, which would normally signify determination. "_Immensely_."

Nishinoya began making a series of poses. "Of course, all of the girls have lived up to my expectations, too!"

Weirdo. My level for respect for Nishinoya plummeted significantly. I wasn't sure whether to consider him cool or uncool at this point.

"I also like the guys' uniform! It's in black! I wore a blazer back in middle school, so I admire this uniform! And it's not in brown or grey, but black!" Nishinoya exclaimed.

"I know that feeling!" Tanaka agreed.

"The guys have cool uniforms, they have cute girl uniforms, _and_ it was close to home! It was a no-brainer!" He grinned confidently. Did this guy have a horrible reason for everything?

Nishinoya sniffed the air as if he had picked up something. Then, just like a dog spotting a squirrel, his head jerked quickly in the direction of the source—the doorway.

No, wait. Upon closer observation, coming in was... Shimizu. Wait, what the _hell?!_ He _smelled_ her presence? What?!

"Kiyoko-saaaaan! I've come to see you!" He ran towards her, arms raised, and then jumped like he was trying to save a volleyball, except his arms were outstretched.

She didn't react well to this, since she flinched the moment she heard his voice and in return to his _lovely_ affections, slapped him.

"He's like a hurricane, as usual..." Sugawara stated.

I heard Hinata suspiciously mutter something along the lines of, "A guerrilla downpour...". Whatever that meant.

"Quite the noisemaker, isn't he?" Sawamura gave a grin as though this had painfully become a daily occurrence. Which it probably _had_ been, last year. "Yet, when he plays, he's surprisingly... silent."

Would I like to see a silent Nishinoya. I had a lot of trouble believing that.

Nishinoya turned back to the guys, a suspicious hand-shaped red mark on his face while Shimizu walked elsewhere. He gave a smile. "And? Where's Asahi-san? Did he come back?"

Sawamura and Sugawara averted their eyes. Sawamura spoke as though it was a hard to discuss topic, "No."

"Wh-" Nishinoya's smile faded, and turned into that scowl I didn't like seeing. He let out a 'kh!' of air in annoyance. "That wimp!" Hinata immediately raised his arm, something he did when he sensed something dangerous. Even Kageyama leaned back a bit.

"Hey, Noya! Don't talk like that about your senpai!" Tanaka yelled back.

"Shut _up!_ A wimp is a wimp. If Asahi-san isn't coming back, then neither am I!" Nishinoya shouted at him, and stormed off.

It was a step from before. He was still yelling, but not as loud and he didn't hit anyone. Maybe he... actually took heed of my words? Did this mean... maybe, he didn't blame me...?

After he left, I took it as safe to go in.

"Hey, Aozora. You missed Nishinoya." I was shocked that Sugawara noticed me coming in. How did he know about me and Nishinoya—oh, right. Tanaka.

"Yeah, I think I did."

* * *

><p>Whenever I went to the volleyball club, I felt like I was committing a crime of espionage, even though I wasn't doing anything illegal or not allowed. The reason being that Nishinoya, despite previously announcing he 'wasn't coming back', came ordinarily. Thus, everyday, I had to sneak past him and everyone I know who would point out my presence and walk into the stands.<p>

I could usually accomplish this by walking in behind Shimizu, as they would immediately flock to her and she would always go in the direction opposite from the stands. Other days, when I knew there was no way I could sneak in, I just didn't go.

Regardless, there was one topic I learned was a hard one.

_'Asahi.'_

_'Asahi-san.'_

_'Asahi-senpai.'_

_'KARASUNO NO ESSU!'_

Usually, when you heard the morning sun* being discussed, you would think it was a happy one. But in the volleyball club, it would only choke the atmosphere of the gymnasium. Especially to Nishinoya.

Even though I always just watched in the stands and didn't have an 'important role to the team' or anything, I thought it would be inconsiderate of me to ignore this.

And that's how I winded up in front of classroom 3-3, to find yet _another_ third year to talk to for volleyball-related issues.

_This is a bad idea. This is _so_ a bad a idea. Remember the last time you tried to resolve something that didn't involve you? Yeah. Look how that turned out. And now you're trying to get yourself roped into the_ exact_ same thing. Genius. With the same person involved, too. It's official, I am an idiot._

I kept a conversation in my head telling me how stupid I was. I heard that the others tried to convince him to come back. For Pete's sake, Nishinoya got _suspended_ for trying to convince him, and Azumane remained undeterred. What made me any different? _  
><em>

But no. If I could say such rude things to Nishinoya, my energy and time would be better spent trying to resolve the issue rather than create another. Even if just once, it would be best if I at least attempted to help.

During lunch time, I saw Azumane come out of the classroom to try to get his lunch when I interrupted him. (Was that a bad idea? Maybe I should've waited 'till he was _done_ his lunch?)

I walked up to him, but he didn't notice I was there and almost hit me while walking. Not because he was being rude, but because of the incredible difference in _height._

"Excuse me. Azumane Asahi?" I called out. He looked a bit startled to suddenly see someone there.

"A-Ah, sorry... what is it?" He apologized for almost knocking me down, and then continued. The manner he spoke in was very polite. Not at all like the rumors I'd heard. Maybe, then, he could be in my situation?!

Oh my god. This was kind of scary. How was I supposed to start off? I didn't plan this at all. "Well... um... Azumane-senpai, you're on the volleyball team, right?"

He was probably getting tired of that. "Well... it's kind of a difficult situation right now. I'd say I'm not really on it right now though, so sorry, but..."

"No—I'm sorry, I shouldn't have started off with that. To be truthful, I know all about your situation." I replied. That sounded kind of creepy. This would have been so much easier if I had a script to read from, but social situations were much more unpredictable. "I know... it might not be any of my business! But, um, I think that you should return to the volleyball team."

He gave a look that I could see myself giving if I were in his situation. "Volleyball just isn't my sport anymore. Sorry to have betrayed your expectations, or anything..."

He was similar to me. I didn't know him well, but if I were in his position, then...

"You're lying." I delivered that line with a serious stare. It seemed to make him uncomfortable, but my thoughts were focused more on the truth rather than my surroundings. "What do you _really_ think?"

I doubted he would tell someone he'd just met. He didn't even know my name. "... Even if I go back, I'd just be a burden to the team."

Wow. Actually, I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get told off right there. This guy was pretty sensitive.

In any case, I guessed that he probably didn't want to tell anyone, but at the same time, did. So it must have been easier to tell me, who—presumably, to him—only had a slight connection with the club. Which wasn't that far off.

"I don't think that's right." I claimed, completely overlooking the formalities. "Aren't you just imposing your own opinion on the group? Actually, you're being even more of a burden than you would be if you were on the team, when you think of the positives and negatives."

"I don't really think you get it..."

"No. I understand it well. Think about it yourself: if you stayed on the team, you could improve yourself and not let them down again. It would provide them reassurance. It adds to the options the team can take. You're being a burden _because_ they want you back, and you're not going, which causes anxiety and stress to the team. It can lead to differences in performance play. So, why _wouldn't_ you want to return to the team?"

"I can only figure out one answer: you're worried. You might let down your team again. But—to me, at least—it seems as though you've already figured that out, haven't you, Azumane-senpai?"

He bit his bottom lip and averted his eyes.

It then dawned on me how uncomfortable he looked. Why _wouldn't_ he be uncomfortable? Wrong or right, it would cause him to misjudge me a lot, especially considering I wasn't like that at all, usually.

"Ahh! It's none of my business, though, of course! I'm sorry for misjudging you! I'm sorry for acting like a know-it-all! I'm sorry for calling you out! I will commit seppuku* one thousand times over to show how sorry I am!" I bowed in apology.

Azumane had an expression of nervousness, guilt and truth before, but now it just displayed a flabbergasted face. One that clearly read _is-this-even-the-same-person_. He must have thought I was inflicted with some kind of personality disorder, like Bipolar Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder or something. Considering my actions lately, I couldn't exactly blame him. Maybe I was going to get my period soon.

"I-I don't really think that's necessary..." Azumane looked taken aback by the sudden contrast in tone I had just shown.

"No, I definitely overstepped my boundaries! I'm sorry...!" This is what happens when you don't go in with a plan. Yup. Nope. I'm done. I made a plan to crawl into my bed forever and die. I should probably fake being sick today. And tomorrow. And forever.

"Well, your heart was probably in the right place..." Azumane looked guilty. He was probably trying to cheer me up, but he looked like he was being very honest. "But... I don't know."

_Wow, I think he might be more wishy-washy than me. And that's saying something._ I thought.

"Um, I'm very sorry for acting so confrontational or coming off as arrogant or cocky or anything in any sort of way. But... please consider it. As long as you do that, I'll have no complaints." I said casually as possible and bowed. "I'm sorry for disturbing you."

He looked a bit concerned about me, but also seemed to be taking heed of what I had said. "Yeah, no, it's fine..."

With that, I bowed my head once more and left toward my classroom.

I vowed to never doing that again.

* * *

><p>I wasn't able to attend their practice match, since on the day of, Nishinoya was standing by the door. Wanting to continue my flawless streak of avoiding him, I left. I'd imagined he thought I transferred by then.<p>

However, the day following, I was able to enter the club before Nishinoya and securely place myself in the stands, where I could easily duck to avoid being seen by him.

From the stands, I saw them gather around the new coach, Coach Ukai, who spoke to them.

"We're just going to have a quick scrimmage, just so I can get a bit better grasp on your individual skills, as well as to cooperate as a whole." Ukai announced. "Any objections?"

Nobody said a word, and Coach Ukai divvied up the teams, using all the members for a perfect six-on-six match.

"Hey, you're Karasuno's Manager, right? Mind playing lines?" Ukai asked Shimizu, who nodded in return, going over to a corner of the court.

"Just one more..." Ukai muttered under his breath, "Oi, do you have someone who can play lines on that side?"

Sawamura looked up and to the right in thought. Then his eyes settled on the stands. "Well, I don't know if she wants to do it, since she's not part of them team, but I _could_ ask."

"Is 'she' here right now? Because if not, forget about it."

Sawamura looked up at the stands. "Do you want to try playing lines, Aozora?"

I immediately noticed Nishinoya's line of sight dart up towards the stands. At first, he looked shocked, but then he made a face. A face I couldn't read properly. His eyebrows were knitted and he bit the bottom of his lip. Was that frustration? It looked like he wanted to say something but didn't.

Azumane, who had recently rejoined the team (or so I assumed), stared at me. His emotions were considerably easier to read._  
><em>

I turned away from the entire teams' expressions. "Yeah, I can do the lines, if you're willing to have me." I called out.

"Great!" Sawamura beamed before returning to his position.

In contrast to Sawamura's polite tone, Ukai cawed, "hurry up!"

As to not take up too much of their time, I went down from the stands and grabbed a flag Shimizu handed to me, and we both took our respective positions on opposite corners.

I was so used to seeing an emotive, hot-blooded Nishinoya, but he kept taking glances at me. Whenever I looked back, he would dart his eyes back to the game. It wasn't bashful or anything, but he continued to give me the feeling of something unexpressed.

None the less, he wasn't the kind of guy to let someone _completely_ distract him from the game, since he was still calling outs easy. Furthermore, he was on the line every time. It was impressive.

It was Enoshita's serve, on our side. He hit it over the net, and Sawamura received it, bumping it to the setter on their side, Sugawara.

With a flick of his hands, Sawamura volleyed the ball up into the air—a toss quite high, and further from the net, where Azumane then jumped and, with strength comparable to a bears', hit the ball with his open palm, creating a loud, resonating slapping sound that reverberated through every corner and crevice of the gym.

It was hit with an incredible amount of power—one unlike I had seen in the other members (aside from _possibly_ Kageyama's serve, but this had to be at least on par with that, if not greater). Sure enough, Nishinoya knew it was out, and didn't dive after it.

Nice call. But then I noticed it was heading straight for my nose. Time slowed down for a second.

Dodging it was impossible. Move head upwards. No. Broken teeth, jawline fracture. Move head to the side, regardless of which side. No. Cheekbone injury. Will likely lose a few teeth. Best option: hit with hardest part of the head.

I tilted my head downwards, and the ball collided with my forehead. Instantly, every single cell in the area began to flare up. I covered it and curled up into a ball, one hand still placed over my forehead, the other one lifting up the flag to signify it was out. Everyone looked at me with mixed expressions, the most evident being a rattled Azumane.

Wow. Karma struck back like a _bitch_. I tried to get Azumane back on the team by being a cocky know-it-all, and then he hits a ball that hits me straight in the face. I would have laughed at the irony if it didn't hurt like hell.

I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder after jogging over to me. "Hey, you okay? Need some ice?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. My voice sounded more like a whimper. I was not _okay_. Azumane's spike fucking _hurt_. Excuse the language, but it was the easiest way to put it. "Ice would be good right now though, so I'm just gonna... go."

"Okay... well, we can live without lines for a practice game like this, I guess. Shimizu, wanna go with her to go get some ice?" Ukai asked. Shimizu gave yet another non-verbal gesture of her approval. I stood up and walked with her.

Once my headache became bearable, I found myself sitting in a chair, my legs crossed. The armrest propped up my elbow, which in turn, propped up my head. More appropriately, an ice pack propped up my head, since it occupied the space between my hand and forehead.

I looked at the room around me, and tried to trick myself into thinking that I _liked_ the way the room spun, so really, I wasn't that hurt because I was hit in the face with a volleyball. At all.

That plan failed quickly.

Shimizu had gone back to practice, leaving me alone in a spinning room. I wasn't even completely sure _where _I was—for all I knew, Shimizu Kiyoko could have been a kidnapper and just committed a _crime_ and I wouldn't know. Why? Because of an aching head pain.

"A-Are you okay...?!" I heard a deep voice ask suddenly. I recognized it as Azumane's.

"Yep. Fine. You really don't need to worry about me. You should get back to practice." I told him. Even _speaking_ hurt.

"No, it's okay... practice is over..." Azumane said. "Are you sure you're okay? I'm so sorry!"

I was struck with a very strong sense of déjà vu. I remember a very similar situation, except with a role reversal.

"It's really okay, don't worry about it!" Technically, it _was_ my fault for not having fast enough reflexes to dodge it, _and_ deciding to play lines.

"Not to mention it was _out! _Oh, but it wouldn't be okay if it was in, either! I... I really didn't mean to..." He was unexpectedly nervous, going back to his 'Gentle Giant' demeanor. "Can... I get anything for you?"

"Uh, yeah. Practice is over, so could you, maybe, get me my bag? It's in the stands. If it's—ow—not too much trouble for you."

"Yeah, o-okay..." Azumane passed the doorway when I heard him say, from just outside the door, "Nishinoya? Practice is over, what're you still doing here?"

"A-Ahh, nothing really, just... yeah... you know, that kinda thing." I heard him reply.

"Oh, you're probably checking if Aozora's okay, right? She's inside." Azumane said, and I heard his thundering footsteps become softer, indicating that he had left.

As that happened, Nishinoya entered with a similar expression as earlier—the main difference was that I could read one of his emotions: worry.

"Aozora, you... okay?" Nishinoya asked, his concern plastered on his face.

"Yeah! Fine!" I replied, putting as much effort for normalcy in my voice as possible.

There was an awkward silence. This couldn't go on forever. He was here right now. When else was I going to tell him, if not now?

"Hey, I'm—" we said in unison, though mine was phrased a bit more formally. Either way, whatever he _or_ I was going to say was cut off with my wince of pain, since I had moved my head from its pedestal of ice.

"Are you okay?" Nishinoya asked, a bit louder that time and with a different tone that I took as tacit worry. He half-lifted up his hand as if he wanted to do something, but knew that he couldn't.

"I'm fine. What where you going to say? Sorry for cutting you off." See? Just then, I was able to say sorry. Why couldn't I say sorry for a _serious_ incident?

"Hey, Aozora, you know that day I yelled at you and you got mad? Well... sorry. I know you're still kind of mad at me, but I just... wanted to say sorry." Nishinoya's eyes kept darting from my face to the wall around me.

"No." I stated, very bluntly.

"What?"

"You're the one who's supposed to be mad at me, so why are you apologizing...? It's my fault."

Nishinoya looked at me for a few seconds. It seemed he was actually taking this seriously. When it came to his friends, he was unexpectedly... considerate.

"How is it your fault? You were just—"

I cut him off. "I didn't need to state it so rudely..."

In return, he cut me off. "So what? Jeez, why're you acting like this? Why do _you_ have to take the blame for everything all the time?!" Nishinoya addressed me almost as loudly as he did the day with Azumane. Noticing he was going too far with his tone, he bit his lip and turned his head roughly to the side.

Initially, I thought that he was mad at me, but I could tell that he wasn't, despite his actions and tone. He was _actually_ kind of sorry. Nishinoya wasn't just giving his usual carefree attitude, and was shoving all jokes aside. So concerned that he was willing to get mad over it, in deep contrast to his usual effervescent attitude that made my head tilt and wonder, '_how can you be so relaxed?'_

But he wasn't. He took things seriously, too. Maybe that was the meaning when Sawamura said, 'unexpectedly quiet'.

How _would _this situation end? What _could _he do to appease me and all would be forgiven?

Nothing. Not because it was his fault, but because my insecurities would get in the way. I was overthinking it so much that, once I actually thought about it, _nothing_ would sate me, since there was no perfect way to do it. Most people would just say 'sorry', and the receiver would say, 'nah, dude, it's okay!' and that would be over. But for me, nothing sounded right.

So I was going to take responsibility and resolve the conflict.

"You're right. I always take the blame. But the both of us are at fault. So I'm sorry I got mad, and I forgive you for getting mad as well." I tried to sound determined, but it came out as hesitant.

He gave me a surprised look. Was it because I took the initiative to reconcile?

"Sorry for shouting and getting on your nerves. It's okay you got mad?" Nishinoya followed my forgiving format, and seemed to ask at the end if he did it right. To give him an answer, though unarticulated, I took the ice pack off my head and smiled.

Nishinoya looked at me for a second longer than usual, then turned his head away like he did before. Had I done something wrong? I couldn't identify his expression properly, but then glanced back at me and gave a smirk, as though he were trying to suppress a smile.

_So, he tricked me then...?_ I guessed. I had no clue about his expression.

But, at the time, I didn't really care and settled for a contradictory reason, despite it opposing my usual preference for everything to make sense.

I didn't care, because everything was okay for now.

* * *

><p>The next day, I was ecstatic. I even felt like walking with an extra bounce in my step (but ultimately decided against it, because that would attract too much attention).<p>

The reason being was because everything was okay. Concerning me and Nishinoya, everything was perfect the way it was.

I was slightly embarrassed at how happy I had been in contrast to any attitude I had shown the days immediately prior, all because of a boy (which was even more embarrassing when put in _that_ sense) but at the same time, I didn't care. Because, like aforementioned, everything was okay.

I was doing a casual walk-and-talk with him after my class ended, as we were heading to the gym for his volleyball practice.

"Actually, Shouyo got spiked by Asahi-san too, earlier this week..." Nishinoya laughed.

Ouch.

"What's your basis for calling people by their first names? You call them 'Tsukishima' and 'Kageyama', but then you say 'Shouyo'." I was slightly curious.

Nishinoya shrugged. "I guess I just have to know them well enough and make sure they're not uncomfortable with it.

"So why don't you call me Kotori?" I asked the question out of genuine curiosity, but then realized the flirtatious implications. I couldn't deny it or take it back either, in fear of even _more_ of a misunderstanding. I didn't know if my face was heating up or not.

He, on the other hand, didn't seem to detect it. "I always thought you didn't like it," he admitted. "But huh... what about _you_ calling people by their first names?"

"Huh? Oh... I don't know... it just feels uncomfortable, I guess..." I answered sheepishly.

"You don't like to look people in the eye when they're talking to you, either. You're actually... shy, aren't you!" He smiled, almost in a teasing manner.

"I'm allowed to look wherever I want when I talk to others." I objected. I didn't want that conversation to continue, so I changed the topic. "You, um, have a game soon, right? The training camp, I think... Nekoma?"

"Oh, yeah, right!" He grinned.

"Are you excited?" The side of my mouth curled up into a smile.

"Definitely!" He exclaimed with starry vehemence in his tone.

I figured. For someone who hadn't gotten to play since last year, that must've been really important to him. That was only a natural reaction.

I frowned, recalling something. "Oh, but... then you won't be here for a few days..."

"Ahh, right! Thank god!" The libero (riberouda? I don't even know) exclaimed. At first I was confused as to what he was so grateful about, but then my eyes narrowed.

"You just want an excuse not to do your homework, don't you?" I frowned.

He sighed. "Figured out, huh..."

"Obviously!" I scolded in jest.

We got to the gym, and as soon as he walked in, he raised his hand straight up in an odd way. A gesture of greeting (most likely), as it was accompanied with his "Yo!"

"Eh...? Who's tha-aah! The girl that Asahi-senpai pegged yesterday!" Hinata exclaimed in his epiphany. I saw Azumane twitch from the side. No doubt Hinata saw it as a stroke of genius, being able to remember such little information. Not realizing the fact that he had asked who I was _before_ and such was explained. "What're you doing here?!"

I had been coming every day, but since Nishinoya had come, I'd made an active effort to conceal myself. Had this been a mystery or horror flick, I would have made quite the daring stalker. Now that we had become friends again, I had apparently gotten careless in my espionage, as a majority of the volleyball team had halted practice to look at who was accompanying Nishinoya.

Was it really _that_ unusual for them to have a visitor?

"Yeah, me and Aozora were in a class together last year!" Nishinoya grinned.

_Aozora and I,_ I mentally complained.

For some reason, everyone seemed suspicious.

"What, does she _like_ him, or something?" Tsukishima asked, with a smirk that plainly read _I'm-a-little-shit_.

Obviously, I could detect the snide remark, and what he really meant. And, above anything else, I knew how to get myself out of these types of situations—and people like him.

It was difficult shoving my emotions down my throat, but I managed to come out with a straight, "Yes, of course."

Everyone who had heard my statement immediately looked at us (other than Shimizu-senpai, who had a deadpanned face. If I _did_, it might have meant less hounding from the kid, so it was to her advantage). The tension in the room was still there, but different. Even Tsukishima looked surprised (no doubt initially taking me for the tsundere* type of girl).

They were acting suspicious because they thought I was Nishinoya's girlfriend, huh.

"H-Hah?! Aozora, what are you saying all of a sudden?!" Nishinoya's face burned red. He didn't strike me as the type to get flustered, but he wasn't as dense as I originally took him for. His actions were definitely contradictory to my theory.

It was kind of fun to tease him, but clearing up the misunderstanding was first. "What? Nishinoya-san is very dedicated to volleyball, and he does quite good at it. I'm not very good at sports to be frank. So I admire him very much." I stated plainly, and with the word 'admire', the tension and shock seemed to fly away.

"O-Oh... _that's_ what you meant... haha, I'm flattered..." He was legitimately tricked, and his words were contradictory to his tone—purely for the sake to cover up how embarrassed he was, as his face was still tinted pink and he was rubbing the back of his neck and looking away.

"Yeah, I see what you mean!" Hinata exclaimed with a smile that befit his last name*. "I mean, Nishinoya-senpai is our libero, so naturally, he's really good at receiving! On the other hand, I can't receive that well, even though it's the most important thing in volleyball..."

It would have been insensitive for me to ask how he made it on the team if he wasn't able to receive well, so instead I switched to, "I've been looking at practice for a while now. Even if you're good at receiving, there's definitely something they're keeping you for."

Urgh... if such saccharine words were spoken to me, I would definitely have marked it off as superficial—just to make me feel better after niggling myself. However, Hinata beamed. I could have sworn his eyes twinkled. "Really?!"

I nodded. "Really."

"Didja hear that, Kageyama?! _She_ even said so!" Hinata turned towards the tall first-year.

"Don't let it go to your head!" Kageyama scolded.

"I don't wanna hear that from _you _of all people!" Hinata retorted.

They glared at each other for a moment, then whipped their heads away from each other simultaneously with a pout and "tch!"

I actually found it very awkward to be there. I knew nothing about the sport. Maybe I should have studied it before accompanying Nishinoya to the gym. It was ridiculous while Nishinoya was _gone_, where I went nearly a _month_ without knowing anything about the sport. I mean, I had just figured out it was '_Libero'_ and not '_Ribra'_ a few days ago.

I decided my plan of action to get out of the situation I had created for myself. "Anyway, good luck at practice, all of you guys. Nishinoya-kun, I'll, um, be at the library."

I waved and turned around, hearing the slamming of balls behind me as I closed the door so they could practice _without interruption_, this time. "Huh? Oh, okay! See you after—" Nishinoya was about to say something, but changed his mind to something else. I would have been fine with that, but it was about what he changed it to that surprised me.

"Kotori-san!"

* * *

><p><strong>*the morning sun - Azumane Asahi, in Japanese, translates to 'East Peak, Morning Sun'.<strong>

***seppuku - Not for the weak of heart. It's a way the samurai punished themselves. Ritual suicide by cutting open your stomach and letting your insides pour out (disembowelment). **

***tsundere - Wikipedia: ****Tsundere is a Japanese character development process that describes a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing their warm side over time.**

***befitting his last name - "Hinata", his family name, translates to 'Sunny place'**

**i'm a horrible person. it's been a month. a _month._ i'm so sorry _I _should be the one committing seppuku one thousand times over oh god. i _did_ fall out of haikyuu for like, a week since i wasn't on tumblr for about that time but now i'm back.**

**but yeah, i have so many projects right now and what are friends and so much unnecessary drama thank god i only have one class with them and **

**ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.**

**kudos to whoever gets some of the name puns.**

**_Peri_ - fanfiction is like tumblr. it will make you love the internet and never want to leave it but to never set foot in it at the same time. i hope you like it.**

**_Bergliot_ - woooow. what a smart name. mine's really simple. anyway, i _love_ symbolism. so i really admire your kind of writing! also, you might be onto something with your philosophy... thanks for reviewing, again! sorry for the wait! **

**well, i hope you liked the update. it'll come out faster! it's like, a new years resolution!**

**happy holidays and new years! (albeit a bit late...)**

**#ssb**


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